Tiger Woods worth every penny of £1.5m appearance fee at Turkish Airlines Open

TIGER WOODS will receive £1.5million for playing in the Turkish Airlines Open this week.

Turkish Airlines is said to have made a smart move to have Tiger Woods on their promotional posters [GETTY]

It is a great deal of money – double the prize for winning the tournament – but he is worth it. Put Woods into a tournament and a jolt of electricity is applied to it. An energy surge passes through it which would not be felt otherwise. Rivals sense it, spectators too – it is the Tiger Effect in action.

At 37, he may be judged too old to be the face of a computer game – his 15-year run with EA Sports came to an end last week – but if you want to separate your golf event from the field there remains one surefire way of doing it and that is to put Woods on the promotional posters.

Turkish Airlines, aiming to raise their country’s profile as a golfing destination, identified the world No1 as the man they needed to put a new tournament on the map. And he has done just that already before swinging a club.

Drawn like moths to a flame, the world’s media will descend on Antalya this week to witness what is Woods’ one visit to Europe’s borders this year, outside of the Open.

It comes at a time of some controversy for him, with a grubby little spat going on back in the USA with a former PGA Tour player called Brandel Chamblee,who all but accused him of being a cheat.

Chamblee, now a blow-dried TV pundit, highlighted a series of recent rule run-ins which he combined to create a picture of a player who plays fast and loose with regulations. It was a useful act of self-publicity for Chamblee, but ultimately uncomfortable for him as, after coming under pressure from an outraged Woods camp, he was forced into a retraction of sorts.

As it happens Woods is not a cheat – on the course at least – but even if he had done something heinous with a drop somewhere it would make little difference to his value to a new event such as this week’s.

Woods being Woods, the sponsors have been able to build an entire global amateur tournament – the World Golf Cup – around the chance to play with him in the pro-am this week.

Last year, when Woods appeared in the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final, there was a stampede of photographers at the first tee. In the resulting pushing and shoving a photographer went down amid smashed glasses, claiming he was butted.

While crowd disturbances are not unknown at Galatasaray matches, they are rare in Turkish golf. That was a laid-back eight-man event with players allowed to wear shorts if they wanted and some of the field, such as Rory McIlroy, appeared to treat it as a holiday.

Woods was in the gym at 5am before his rounds. His name comes with a cast-iron guarantee – not that he will win, but that he will give his all to win. It is part of his make-up. And if it is not going his way, there is no chance whatsoever of him throwing in the towel. No one in golf is better at reaching the 72nd hole than Woods.

While there is no cut in Turkey, with its 78-man field, it is still reassuring to the organisers to know they can rely on complete commitment from their star attraction.

It is what one might expect for £1.5m. But when it comes to the bigger picture, he will prove value for even that vast outlay.